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(Model!) H. H RODMAN.

SHOE FASTENING. I

A Patented Apr. 14, 1885.

' WITNESSES: 0m

ATTORNEYS.

, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFiCE.

HENRY RODMAN, OF WILKES-BARREL PENNSYLVANIA.

. SHOE-FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 315,554, dated April 14, 1885.

Application filed June 7, 1882. Renewed August 19, 1884. (Model) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY H. RODMAN, of Wilkes-Barre, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Shoe-Fastening, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to facilitate the fastening and unfastening of shoes. and gaiters.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe provided with my improved fastening, showing the shoe opened. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same, showing it closed. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of part of the shoe, showing the U-shaped clip.

The rear of the shoe Ais cut open from the upper edge to the top of the cap, as shown, and to the edges thus formed a series of U- shaped clips, I B, are attached. These clips have the free ends of their body portion bent toward each other, so that the sides of the body will be separated a greater distance than the ends of the same. These clips can be attached directly to the shoe or to extra strips, 0, of leather or cloth, which are sewed to the edges of the opening. These clips are provided with eyelets D, attached to or made integral with the body, which eyelets arev passed through apertures in the edge of the shoe or in the strips 0, which eyelets are se- 0 cured by bending over the inner edges in the same manner as eyelets are usually secured. Atongue,E, of leather or cloth, has thickened edges F, and the upper part of this tongue is cut longitudinally about half the length of the tongue to form two straps, G, projecting from one end of the tongue. The thickened edge F of the tongue extends around the lower end of the tongue, as shown. One or more button holes or slits, H, are formed in the end of one of the straps G, and a button, J, is attached to the end of the other strap.

A button hole or slit, K, is formed in the front of the shoe near the upper edge.

,The operation is as follows: The tongue E is passed through the clips B in such a man'- ner that the thickened edges are between the shanks of the clips, and the body of the tongue E is between the ends of the shanks. If the tongue is drawn downward,

so that the straps G only will be in the clips, the rear of the shoe can be separated and opened so that the foot can enter, as shown in Fig. 1. If the shoe is to be closed, the tongue E.is drawn upward, and as the thickened edges always remain in the clips B the edges of the opening of the shoe will be drawn together, as shown in Fig. 2. The

straps G are passed around the ankle, the button J at the end of one strap G is passed through one of the button-holes H in the other strap G, and button J is passed through the button-hole Kin the front of the shoe from the inside toward the outside.

It is evident that without departing from the essential characteristics of my invention the clips can be attached to the tongue, and

the edges of the opening in the shoe may be thickened, and this fastening may be used at the front and side openings of the shoes as well as a rear opening. In place of the U- shaped clip,a ring with atransverse seat may be used.

In defining the scope of this invention, more clearly, I would state that I have made a new application for a modified form of the tongue, which new application was filed July 22,1884. The construction there covered was a tongue made of a single and uniform thickness of shaped clips B, having thefree ends of their body portion bent toward each other, and provided with eyelets D, for attaching the same to the edges of the opening in the shoe, and of the tongue E, provided with thickened edges F, substantially as herein shown and described, and for the purpose setforthrmn 2. The combination, with a shoe, of U- shaped clips 13, attached to the edges of the opening in the shoe and having the ends of their shanks bent toward each other, of the tongue E, having thickened edges F, and of the straps G, formed at the other end of the tongue, substantially as herein shown and described, and for the purpose set forth.

3. The conibination,with the shoe A, of the U-shaped clips B, attached to the edges of the opening in the same, the tongue E, and the straps G, formed at the upper end of the tongue, and provided with the button J, attached to the end of one strap G, and the button-hole H, formed in the end of the other strap G, substantially as herein shown and described, and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination, with the shoe A, pro- I vided with a button-hole, K, near its upper edge,in the front part of the shoe, of the clips B, the tongue E, and the straps G, formed at the upper end of the tongue, and provided with a button, J, a-nda button-hole, H, substantially as herein shown and described, and for the purpose set forth.

5. As an improved article of manufacture, a shoe-fastening clip, 13, made U-shaped, and having the free end of the body portion bent toward each other, and provided with the eyelets D, substantially as herein shown and described, and for the purpose set forth.

HENRY H. RODMAN.

Witnesses:

OSCAR F. GUNZ, EDGAR TATE. 

